churchtown

See also: Churchtown

English

Etymology

From Middle English *chirchetoun, from Old English ċiriċtūn. Equivalent to church +‎ town.

Noun

churchtown (plural churchtowns)

1. (UK) In the southwest of England, a hamlet or village distinguished by being the location of a parish church.

   Zennor Churchtown

   • 1872, Joseph Polsue, A Complete Parochial History of the County of Cornwall:

     Attached to a house in the churchtown is a tablet inscribed thus:— […]

   • 1791, Peter Barfoot, John Wilkes (of Milland House, Sussex), The Universal British Directory of Trade, Commerce, and Manufacture (volume 2, page 539)

     About half a mile Southwest of the churchtown is Tredrea, the seat of the Rev. Edward Giddy.

   • 2015, Kirsty Fergusson, Cornwall (Slow Travel), page 163:

     Like many Cornish fishing villages, Gorran is in two parts: a cluster of cottages and houses built around the harbour, and higher inland a 'churchtown', where the streets are broader, the houses bigger and the smell of fish (in the past) less invasive.

Derived terms

• Mylor Churchtown

Related terms

• kirktown

References

• “church town”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.